Kaufman’s brother Michael claimed Monday during the annual Andy Kaufman Awards at a New York comedy club, that he had a letter from his brother saying he faked his 1984 death. Then he brought a woman onstage who said she was Kaufman’s daughter, born while he was in seclusion in 1989.

But on Thursday, Michael Kaufman told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” that he now thinks he was the victim of a hoax.

“Now that it’s Thursday, not Monday anymore, I believe I am part of a hoax,” Kaufman said in what was described as a bizarre, rambling interview where he spoke in a monotone similar to his brother.

“I don’t believe she’s acting on her own, though,” Kaufman said, referring to the woman identified as the comedian’s daughter. “But, you know, that’s all I know.”

According to CNN.com, Tapper pressed him: “Just to reiterate, you now don’t think that it’s true — you think that this is a hoax and you were a victim of the hoax?”

“Correct,” Kaufman said. He denied he was part of the hoax.

Somehow, while I didn’t believe Andy Kaufman was alive Wednesday, now I think he must be.

The Smoking Gun reported the woman is an actress named Alexandra Tatarsky, whom Michael Kaufman met earlier this year at a Manhattan gallery and recruited to pose as his brother’s daughter.

As the reports spread Thursday, the Los Angeles County Coroner rereleased Kaufman’s death certificate. “Andy Kaufman is dead,” the coroner’s office said in a statement.

This is so bizarre.

TMZ said Kaufman’s girlfriend at the time of his death, 56-year-old Lynne Margulies, told the website she was in the West Hollywood hospital room when Kaufman passed away at age 35 from a rare form of lung cancer. She said she watched him die.

“I was in the hospital room,” Marguilies said. “I was there. They would have had to switch bodies.”

He’s totally alive. She’s in on it.

CNN contacted Kaufman’s manager, George Shapiro, was said he was also at the comedian’s side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center when he died. “Andy’s very much alive in our hearts, but I don’t think his body is around,” Shapiro said. “He died. I was in the hospital.”

Oh, and Michael Kaufman also told Tapper he was also his brother’s deathbed. “I saw him emaciated. I saw him die.”

This is weird.

Kaufman often talked about faking his own death. According to CNN, sightings of Kaufman’s boorish character Tony Clifton were reported at comedy clubs following his death. Even some of his closest friends never quite believed Kaufman died.